A new ‘protocol’ is reportedly being drawn up by police bosses and council chiefs after a claimed ‘serious breakdown’ in communication occurred during the mayhem seen at Piccadilly Gardens over the last week.
That’s according to a senior Manchester councillor who has held meetings with Andy Burnham and his deputy mayor for policing and crime, Kate Green. Coun Pat Karney’s opinion represents the latest development in a week-long saga over the chaos seen in the centre of the city.
However, GMP have said, following a review, they 'established there was no breakdown in communication' and there was 'no impact on the operational response'. Officers were busy operationally after three incidents have been reported in Piccadilly Gardens and on Market Street since Friday (July 21).
Now, in a special report, the M.E.N. takes a look at how the chaos unfolded — and how city leaders responded.
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Four days and three incidents
Trouble began on Friday afternoon, the last day of school. What began as a celebration of the start of six weeks off turned ugly after a mob of hundreds of teenagers gathered in the gardens after reportedly being asked to leave the Arndale food court at 2:30pm.
The next few hours in the city were dominated by chaos. Eggs — allegedly supplied by a ‘lad who had boxes and boxes of them’ under his coat, one shop worker said — were launched at cops and passersby.
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By late afternoon, a familiar pattern emerged. Teenagers would huddle together, and then as an egg was projected into the sky, it would smash nearby — causing the children to run away, screaming.
It led to numerous shops closing their doors. Eventually, the crowd was brought under control after Tactical Aid Unit officers were drafted in, and corralled the group to the Piccadilly Gardens grass.
A dispersal order, already in place from 1pm that day, was enforced over a loudspeaker. Three arrests were made on the day — two of them adults — as cops and councillors said the incident would be an aberration.
“A full investigation and review of CCTV will now take place over the coming weeks, where a debrief will take place with schools and colleges,” Inspector Kenna, from GMP’s city centre division, said. “We will not tolerate or accept this level of disorder or disruption in Manchester, robust action will be taken against those who are identified as committing offences and disorder.”
However, more trouble was around the corner. On Friday night, a fight reportedly broke out at the Market Street tram stop, around 9pm.
Videos have circulated on social media of the violent clash, and one boy was arrested. A statement confirmed: “Officers were called to the disturbance, however upon attendance, all parties quickly dispersed from the area. So far, a 16-year-old boy has been arrested in connection to the incident.”
The next event came on Monday (July 24) night, after a party was shut-down on Deansgate. The party, held at Rebellion was ‘not what [management] expected’, bosses said.
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A Rebellion spokesman said: “On the night, 200-odd under-18s came in and it was not what we expected, but we decided to roll with it — everyone was ID’d, and no alcohol was served. One of our security noticed something was going on in the beer garden.
“He found out that weaponry had been thrown over the fence. They called the police and they suggested we call the event to an end. We waited until [enough] people dispersed [from the venue] so the police could deal with [those remaining inside the venue].
“This morning police have looked at CCTV and licensing have been in touch. It’s a horrible thing. We did everything we were asked to do, and hopefully we will come out of this.”
The 200 young people then headed to St Peter's Square and Piccadilly Gardens, causing mayhem as they went,’with sporadic fights and anti-social behaviour taking place’, cops said.
Since then, the public square has returned to normal, but the mayhem has shaken staff. "We have lots of incidents here,” said Rehman Butt, 50, a doorman at a premises close to the Gardens.
“Everyday there is trouble. But it does feel like things are as bad as they've ever been. I don't know what's behind this. The police need to deeply investigate.
"There were loads of officers last night and to be honest they handled it quite nicely. And I know its a big city and there are lots of things happening. But I would suggest that they need to have officers here all the time. Even if it was just three or four.
"If they did, and criminals could see them, they could stop so many things. Not just violence, but drug dealing, the stealing of the phones."
His colleague Sheikh Mehmood, 49, agreed. He said on Friday he was forced to intervene as hundreds of school kids ran riot. At one point, a lad was chased and '15 or 16 people jumped on him' and were punching and kicking him, he added, prompting Mr Mehmood to pull him inside their premises and close the door. Mr Butt credited his colleague with 'saving his life.'
How did police and city leaders react?
Immediately after Friday’s ‘school's-out’ chaos, GMP stepped up patrols and enforced a dispersal order.
“We don’t underestimate the impact incidents of such large scale have on others trying to go about their daily business,” Temporary Superintendent Muzemil Kernain from GMP’s City Centre District said.
“In response to this occurrence, officers used their section 35 powers to put a dispersal notice in place for the City Centre, safely dispersing the youths gathering and returning the area to normality. This dispersal notice will remain in place until 1pm this afternoon (Saturday July 22, 2023).
“An increased visible presence has continued into this morning to ensure no further incidents occurred and to provide additional reassurance.”
Another statement, issued by Inspector Kenna, from GMP’s city centre division, added: “A full investigation and review of CCTV will now take place over the coming weeks, where a debrief will take place with schools and colleges. We will not tolerate or accept this level of disorder or disruption in Manchester, robust action will be taken against those who are identified as committing offences and disorder.”
And there was further reassurance from Temp Supt Kernain following the reports of the tram stop attack. He said: “It’s believed the incident involves individuals known to one another, not members of the public trying to go about their daily business. At this time, no victims have come forward to us.
“The City Centre policing team continually patrol the main shopping high street, providing a visible presence to deter crime and act swiftly to incidents that arise. Additionally, officers from our Transport Unit frequently run operations alongside partner agencies across the transport network, including at tram stops in the centre.”
Similarly, after Monday’s chaos, GMP assured the public that patrols would remain at a high level as they released images of four people they want to speak to over the incident.
“We understand that the recent incidents in Manchester City Centre will undoubtedly cause some concern with local residents and those visiting Manchester; I want to be absolutely clear that incidents of this nature will not be tolerated in the City Centre,” said Inspector Glen Rees of GMP’s City Centre neighbourhood team.
"We will continue to put measures in place to tackle these issues and you will be seeing an increase in the number of officers on patrol around the local area to help provide reassurance. Those officers are more than happy to provide a listening ear to any concerns or information you may have about any crimes or issues in your area.
“Following our initial enquiries we are now in a position to release CCTV images of individuals that we would like to speak to as part of our comprehensive investigation that is now taking place.
“I urge anyone who recognises these people in the CCTV images or has any information that may help us with our investigation to contact our city centre neighbourhood crime team on 0161 856 2510 or by calling 101 quoting incident log 3030 of 24/7/2023."
That message has been echoed by senior Manchester councillors. Pat Karney, a veteran Labour member, said: “The message from the council and police is that we will do everything to stop these disturbances. Those people are letting Manchester down and the reputation of the city down.”
Coun Karney has also held high-level meetings with Andy Burnham and Kate Green, which he described as ‘positive’. One product of the discussions was agreeing a new ‘protocol’ in communications, he said.
He went on: “We covered a number of areas, first up was communication between GMP and the council. I was saying there was a serious breakdown between the two over the last weekend. We have agreed new comms protocol will be put in place when we have those disturbances.”
That protocol has yet to be fully sketched out, the M.E.N. understands. The Evening News also understands that Kate Green is in discussions with Manchester city council, GMP, and the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, to speak to school leaders of students involved in Friday’s madness when term starts again in September.
However, a spokesperson for GMP has said that no such breakdown occurred. In a statement, the force commented: "A partnership response is the most effective way of preventing crime, harm, and anti-social behaviour and keeping people safe. As such, over the weekend, conversations were being had at strategic level – following a review, it was established there was no breakdown in communication and no impact on the operational response.”
He also assured residents that wrongdoers will be brought to justice, and new cameras will help. Coun Karney went on: “ I thanked Andy Burnham and Kate Green for the ‘no stone unturned’ policy for taking a robust approach to bring these people before the courts. The school chaos was completely different to behaviour on Friday night. Those thugs need to be caught and brought before the courts.
“I have been involved in putting more CCTV cameras around Piccadilly. We are on the threshold of the new Piccadilly Gardens and it will have many more. If they are caught they will have a record which will affect their employment prospects.”
Greater Manchester Combined Authority have been contacted for comment.